


Dive into your heart

by lossit_bay



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Humour, M/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossit_bay/pseuds/lossit_bay
Summary: Flatmates Jeongin, Seungmin, Changbin and Minho spend the summer at Minho's grandparent's seaside house and Minho starts disappearing for long periods of time. Long periods of time, even for him. They find him at a secret cove at the bottom of the cliffs but why would Minho be down there when he was scared of heights and couldn't swim? The answer was something Jeongin would never have guessed in a thousand years and it changes his summer and his life forever.
Comments: 110
Kudos: 157





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I'm writing another fic without finishing the others. Chan made me do it.
> 
> This intro is loosely based on the beginning of my favourite childhood book of all time, _Ingo_. If you ever see it, _read it_. I'm pretty sure a good amount of my humour comes from the Mer in that book. (" _Mermaids_. What a human way of talking" ... "What makes you think the Mer are living in the olden days?") He is the sassiest mf I ever read in a childrens book and I love him.

Jeongin was rudely awakened from his nap by a shove to the side of his hammock. Thankfully, Jeongin had suffered such an attack many times over the past three days they’d been staying at Minho’s grandparents’ house and he had wrapped the fabric around him so he remained inside while the hammock spun upside down and righted again.

“Yes?” he asked irritatedly, keeping his cocoon tightly wrapped around himself for protection.

“Have you seen Minho-hyung?” Seungmin asked without any sort of polite smalltalk first. Jeongin didn’t expect it from him and would have been suspicious had it happened.

“From inside this hammock?” Jeongin answered sassily. He got another shove.

“Like _today,”_ Seungmin said. “I’m hungry. Shouldn’t he be making dinner by now?””

Jeongin poked his head out of the hammock and Seungmin’s scowl melted before him as Jeongin blinked to adjust his eyes to the light. Seungmin reached over and brushed Jeongin’s fringe back into place. These kinds of actions had been getting more common with Seungmin and Jeongin wasn’t sure how to take them. The bothering and teasing he understood- he had an older brother after all- and the grudging help with assignments was familiar for the same reason but these random touches… Was he supposed to shove them off too or do something else?

“Are you still half-asleep?” Seungmin asked. “You probably shouldn’t be napping this late. It will mess up your sleep schedule.” 

“We’re on holiday,” Jeongin pointed out, trying to get out of the hammock without decking it in the grass. “I don’t _need_ a sleep schedule.” 

Seungmin held one side of the strings steady casually as if he just happened to lean on it when Jeongin needed it. A lot of his actions were like that. Jeongin didn’t know what to make of that either. They had known each other for two semesters, one academic year, and even though they had lived together for that whole time there was a lot about Seungmin that confused him. Not that their other flatmates were any better. Changbin had ended up in their flat because he forgot to get accommodation and the 1st year that had originally been in his room had dropped out in the second week, leaving the room free. Changbin forgot a lot of things. Like going to class, going to sleep, eating, any recipe the rest of them tried to teach him- basic human survival pretty much. And yet he had nearly straight As in his classes. Jeongin was both impressed and furious. 

Seungmin and Minho, their final flatmate, also got straight As. Seungmin’s excellence came through _constant_ grind. Jeongin wasn’t sure he really did things other than improve his CV. Sure, baseball was a hobby, but when you were also the team treasurer in only your second year it was more like a job with exercise. Minho worked hard for his As too, Jeongin was sure. He would disappear to the library for impressively long stints just prior to a deadline and come back with thousands of words of technical jargon, _beautiful_ diagrams and a file full of code. But Minho was equally likely to disappear for impressively long stints to other places. Places that started with a club or a bar and then became a friends house, or a strangers house and then the park and then _god knows where_. Jeongin didn’t think he could ever enjoy himself for as long as Minho managed too- he would definitely have an accidental nap somewhere before 6am, when Minho normally appeared with the sun. Minho was a fourth year though, so presumably he knew what he was doing to have survived it this long and Jeongin, as a lowly first year, thought it best not to comment.

Jeongin himself had got mostly Bs in his coursework. Hopefully, when the exam results came out later in the summer his exam grades would pull up his grade average but as a first year he really only needed to pass. As a second year, Seungmin also didn’t have to aim so high but that wasn’t really Seungmin’s style. Seungmin liked to be on top of everything, hence why he was asking about dinner before the sun was even that low in the sky.

“I’ve not seen Minho-hyung since this morning,” Jeongin told him. “I think he was going fishing again.”

“He’s not at the river,” Seungmin said with his hands on his hips. “And he’s not in the house anywhere and he’s not answering his phone.”

“Have you asked Bin-hyung?” Jeongin suggested. Anything to prevent Seungmin from dragging him into this wild Minho chase.

“He’s not seen Hyung either,” Seungmin frowned. “And he got grumpy at me.”

Poor Seungmin. A grumpy Changbin was not anybody’s friend. “Did you check the shed?” Jeongin offered.

“It’s locked,” Seungmin said. “I’ve looked around the whole house, the river and the field. The only other places he could have gone is down the road, the woods or the cliffs.”

“You want me to look with you?” Jeongin asked reluctantly. He understood Seungmin’s hesitation to go alone. Minho might have grown up running around here but the woods were certainly creepy to Jeongin and with no path through them he could definitely see himself getting lost in there alone.

“Yes please,” Seungmin said and held out a hand. Jeongin didn’t take it and wandered past him back to the house. 

“I need shoes,” he called back to Seungmin, feeling the other boy’s dejection hit like a weight on his shoulders. As if he would actually leave Seungmin to search by himself- he wasn’t _that_ cruel.

***

They had searched as far into the woods as they dared and found nothing and walked all the way down to the bottom of the dirt track where it met the main road and not encountered Minho anywhere. That only left the cliffs. Jeongin didn’t honestly expect Minho to be there since the fourth year was deathly afraid of heights. As in, he freaked going up the stairs to the union canteen because of the floor to ceiling glass on the stairwell. Cliffs didn’t seem like his scene. Still, they went and walked along the sea-front two metres away from the edge as per Jeongin’s risk assessment. He didn’t know the structure of the bedrock and it was better to be safe than dead.

“Can’t we even crawl to the edge and look over?” Seungmin whined. “We can’t see any of the waves crashing from back here.”

“No,” Jeongin said firmly. “What if the cliff is undercut? What if the edge is just turf and no rock underneath? Do you really think _turf_ is going to hold you up just because you’re crawling.”

“Urgh,” Seungmin said, which was how he normally answered when Jeongin made a point he couldn’t refute. Seungmin studied law and it infuriated him to be outwitted by a primary teacher. That was exactly why Jeongin tried to do it as often as possible. Jeongin was still basking in the victory when Seungmin broke away from him _towards_ the cliff.

“Where are you going!?” Jeongin asked in panic. He wanted to go and pull Seungmin back but then both of their weight would be right near the edge of the cliff.

“There’s a path!” Seungmin called and disappeared around the edge of a bush right by the cliff edge.

“Seungmin-hyung!” Jeongin yelled.

“I’m fine,” Seungmin’s voice floated up over the edge of the cliff. “Come on, there’s a cove. Hey! I see Minho-hyung!”

Jeongin closed his eyes for a second to add this information to his risk assessment. He had no idea what state Seungmin’s ‘path’ was in but presumably it wasn’t over undercut rock and if Minho had already walked down it it was probably safe. Relatively safe. How much did he trust Minho’s judgement anyway?

“Innie!” Seungmin called, his head reappearing around the bush. “Come on, _secret beach_.” His eyes were wild with the lure of adventure and he was grinning so widely Jeongin could see his top and bottom teeth. This was a _very_ excited Seungmin and if Jeongin didn’t stop him he would _run_ all the way down this perilous cliff path.

“I’m coming,” Jeongin said. “Wait. Don’t run.”

“I wasn’t going to run,” Seungmin said but he’s already disappeared again.

“Wait!” Jeongin called out.

“I’m _waiting,”_ Seungmin grumbled from just behind the bush. “God, I’m not an idiot. Hurry _up.”_


	2. Chapter 2

Their bickering echoed around the steep cliffs of the cove and Jeongin saw Minho look up in surprise from where he was sitting on a large black rock at the end of a natural jetty running along the right hand edge of the beach.

“Hyung!” Jeongin called out. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” In front of him Seungmin took a turn in the zig-zagging path a little too sharply and skidded slightly in the loose gravel with a yelp. “Slow _down!”_ Jeongin griped to Seungmin and looked away from the beach to watch his own feet. He missed the large splash next to Minho that sprayed water up over the edge of the rock his hyung had been sitting on.

“I’m in control,” Seungmin said and _jumped_ the next turn to get down to the beach faster. 

“Like fuck you are,” Jeongin retorted, taking tiny controlled steps as he followed Seungmin. “If you die I’m giving you a sea burial.” It wouldn’t be that extreme but he did not want to be the one to haul Seungmin up this path again if anything happened to him. The nearest hospital was quite far away so Seungmin could at least _consider_ his own health as he hurtled down the incline.

“I didn’t die!” Seungmin called up from the bottom of the cliff. Great, that would only reinforce his reckless behaviour.

“Good for you,” Jeongin said. He had intended to continue their bickering but Seungmin had his arms outstretched waiting to help Jeongin take the final jump down to the sand so he mumbled the words instead. Seungmin was just excitable, he wasn’t trying to worry Jeongin on purpose, and he was actually waiting for Jeongin now instead of racing for the waves like Jeongin knew he would be desperate to do.

Jeongin took Seungmin’s hand to get down to the sand then he reached the bottom of the path and had to steady himself on his friend as the warm sand slid out from under his shoes.

“Careful,” Seungmin warned cheekily. “We should take our shoes off now so they don’t get full of sand. You go first.” He held Jeongin’s arm as Jeongin took his shoes off and then Jeongin did the same for him. They placed their shoes and socks carefully on the end of the path since nobody else would be coming down before they left and turned to set off for the sea.

Minho met them halfway down the beach, foiling their plan. “What are you guys doing here?” he asked.

“Finding you!” Jeongin said. “You keep disappearing and it’s nearly dinner time.”

“It’s that late?” Minho said and turned to look out to sea, where the sun was starting to dip behind the cliffs on the left. It wouldn’t be dark up by the house for a while but it would soon get darker and colder down here.

“What were you even doing?” Seungmin asked, trying to peer past Minho to find out what was so interesting about the rocks.

“Fishing,” Minho replied. He didn’t have any fishing gear on him but his tone made Jeongin hesitant to call him out on it.

“There’s fish?” Seungmin asked. “By the rocks? Can we see?” 

Minho took his arm and turned him back to the cliffs. “Not anymore. I thought you guys were hungry? We should go back to the house.”

“But we just got here,” Jeongin complained. “Can’t we just paddle quickly?”

“And get your feet wet and covered in sand so you can’t get your shoes back on?” Minho said. “No. Just come back tomorrow.”

***

Jeongin tried to get information about the secret beach from Minho at dinner with little success. Minho had known about the beach and the path down to it from his childhood but hadn’t thought to include it on their tour on the first day, or so he claimed. He also still maintained that he had gone there to fish.

It just added to the beach’s mystery so when the next morning Minho was again absent Jeongin knew exactly where he wanted to look first. And this time he _was_ going to paddle.

“Changbin-hyung,” Jeongin said, too quietly to really wake his slumbering friend. The pillow he slammed into the side of Changbin’s face did it though.

“Wha-?” Changbin said and scrubbed sleepily at his eyes. Once he noticed it was Jeongin waking him up he sat upright and held out his hands. “Innieeee,” he wheedled. “Give Changbin a hug.”

Jeongin held his pillow in front of him like a shield and took a cautionary step back. “No. We’re going to the secret beach, get dressed.”

“I need Innie cuddles first,” Changbin said cutely. He got a pillow to the face again.

“No. Attack Seungmin-hyung if you’re going to be like that.”

“Seungminnieee!” Changbin crooned. 

“What?” Seungmin called back from the kitchen. “Are you too short to jump down from your bed?” It was a child’s bed in a twin room he was sharing with Seungmin, possibly left over from when Minho’s mother had been a child. 

“Ya!” Changbin yelled back. He was certainly awake now so Jeongin decided that was a job well done and left the room. He would have half an hour at least before Changbin was ready to go so he settled in the living room to play games until then. Seungmin busied around him, making sure they had sunscreen, water, food, towels and god knows what else for their adventure. Jeongin trusted him to have anything they could possibly need and a good number of other things too. 

“Is your camera charged?” Jeongin asked as Seungmin passed again. He’d just died spectacularly in his game and didn’t feel like doing so again. His question had a selfish motive- Seungmin took the best pictures out of everyone he knew and the beach was an ideal place to get a new profile picture all his friends would be jealous of. The water might be colder here than somewhere else abroad but it would look just as pretty and Seungmin knew his best angles.

“It’s on ninety-three percent,” Seungmin said. He was finally done with his packing and slumped down onto the couch next to Jeongin. He tipped his head onto Jeongin’s shoulder to see his phone scene but there was nothing on it but the start options for the game. “By the time Hyung has found his brain it’ll be at full charge.”

“I heard that!” Changbin called from the bathroom.

“Oh?” Seungmin replied at the same volume. “Have you found it yet or does your speech not require brain cells?”

“Ya!” Changbin called again.

“The evidence is inconclusive,” Seungmin remarked pompously. He must be a real pain to go up against in class debates.

“I’ll give you evidence,” Changbin said and came through with his towel readied like a whip.

Seungmin shrieked _far too close to Jeongin’s ear_ and leapt up to run away. Jeongin mentally added ten minute to their time of departure. It was going to be lunch time before they found out what Minho was up to at this rate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what could minho be doing i wonder


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if i was a hotshot writer id totally pay some korean kid to go to the beach for the day and take wildlife reference photos for me but alas. I'll try to check if there is equivilants of the creatures im used to but there is a good chance this just defaults to western scotland coasts. im guessing nobody will mind even though it bugs me that the flora and fauna will be inaccurate in my mermaid fic.

It _was_ lunchtime before they made the short trek to the cliffs above the secret beach. Jeongin made Seungmin promise to go slow and _quietly_ down the path this time so they could get to the beach before Minho spotted them. If he was doing something shady Jeongin wanted the opportunity to catch him in the act before he could hide it from them again. And Jeongin was _sure_ he was hiding _something._

“Woah,” Changbin said quietly as they rounded the bush hiding the way down the cliffs. “Has this been here the whole time?”

“No, Hyung, the sea carved it out yesterday,” Jeongin replied with biting sarcasm. He’d gone first to dissuade Seungmin from even considering racing off again and Changbin huffed from the back at Jeongin’s comment. Jeongin ignored him and paused for a second to look down to the beach. Minho was on the same rock as before but now he was lying flat on his stomach, hands under his chin, looking over the far side of the rock into the deep water where the waves crashed softly.

“Move it, In,” Seungmin said impatiently from behind him, placing one hand encouragingly against the small of Jeongin’s back.

“Is that… another person?” Jeongin asked, standing his ground. It could just be another rock, seaweed moving in the waves maybe, but Jeongin could have sworn he just saw a head in the water as the swell rose around Minho’s rock.

“Where?” Seungmin asked.

“In the water, by Hyung,” Jeongin said, already feeling stupid to suggest it. Who else would be out here? The beach was cut off from the rest of the coast and the path led down from private property. Unless Minho was letting someone in without telling them, there was nobody that could get to this beach.

“I don’t see someone,” Seungmin replied. “Where exactly?”

“Forget about it,” Jeongin said and started walking again. “My prescription is probably out of date.”

“Want a shot of my glasses?” Seungmin offered jokingly. 

Seungmin had truly terrible eyesight. He even had designated places for them around the apartment at university because once he took them off he was too blind to find them again. So of course Minho had taken to moving them by about an arms length whenever he could to freak Seungmin out. And then it was _Jeongin’s_ job to come help him.

Seungmin mostly wore contact lenses like Jeongin when he was in public but since it was just the four of them out here he wasn’t bothering so much with them. All the other boys were well acquainted with the way his glasses made his eyes look too small for his face and while they made fun of him for it there was a limit to how many jokes you could make about something like that.

“Oh yeah, your glasses on top of my contacts,” Jeongin said scathingly. “You might as well just blindfold me. I’d walk straight off this cliff and then you’d follow me because you wouldn’t be able to see shit either.”

“Ok, maybe not,” Seungmin agreed. “We’d traumatise Changbin-hyung.”

“Damn straight, you’d traumatise Changbin-hyung!” Changbin exclaimed from the back. “Don’t talk about that when we’re halfway down a cliff! Now I’m worried!”

“It’s _fine,”_ Hyung,” Seungmin said. “I ran all the way down yesterday and I’m fine.”

“Why did you two talk me into this,” Changbin muttered to himself but they were already near the bottom of the cliff.

“Done!” Jeongin exclaimed proudly as he touched down onto the soft sand. Seungmin jumped down behind him, bracing on Jeongin’s shoulder as he did so and making Jeongin stumble forward a few steps. Sand spilled over the ankle of his left shoe.

“You are the worst,” he told Seungmin with feeling. There was no point taking his shoes off now and stopping would only give Minho more time to spot them. He took an extra step forward out of Seungmin’s reach as the older boy was reluctant to step too far into the unstable sand and turned to stick his tongue out. “Have fun missing what Hyung is doing,” he said and raced off down the beach while Seungmin and Changbin were delayed taking their shoes off.

The sand flowed over his laces and wormed its way into his shoes, gritting up his socks. His feet grew heavier and he thought he was going to have to stop to discard his shoes but the sand started to firm up where it was still wet from the last tide. Minho’s footprints tracked straight to the rocks, shallow imprints at a leisurely pace. There was even a spin every once in a while or the arcs of him dragging his feet between steps.

By the time Jeongin reached the rock outcrop he was out of breath. A moment of foolish recklessness had him stepping at the edge of a rockpool to make a final leap up onto the rocks and the sand gave way under his foot with terrifying abruptness. He made the leap but scraped his shin and had to scramble to stay on the rock. Jeongin looked back at the sand and saw his final footprint glistening in the sun, the imprint filled with water. Quicksand. He should have known to look out for it so close to rocks. His mother had taken him to the beach often enough as a child and warned against playing too long in sand like that. And to always watch for the tide turning. The sea could race back in fast if you weren’t watching and you didn’t want to have your feet stuck when it did.

Jeongin didn’t know if the tide was coming in or going out now but it wasn’t at its highest because there was seaweed and limpets exposed on the rock. Minho would know if the rocks were cut off from the beach at high tide but considering Minho hadn’t yet noticed Jeongin coming up behind him Jeongin didn’t put much faith in him noticing the tides. 

“Minho-hyung!” he called out as he reached the rock behind Minho. “Help me up!”

“Innie!” Minho exclaimed in surprise, turning sharply. “When did you get here?”

“Just now,” Jeongin said. He gestured over his shoulder to where Seungmin and Changbin were messing about as they crossed the beach towards them. “We came to explore the secret beach!” There would be no use in telling Minho they were here to snoop on him- he’d only clam up. “What are you doing? Is it the fish?” Jeongin grabbed onto Minho’s leg and hauled himself up into the rock too. 

“You’ll have scared it off,” Minho said, reluctantly helping Jeongin. “We should go back to the beach.”

He was definitely hiding something. Jeongin clambered past him to the point of the outcrop where Minho had been looking down into the water. The edge of the rock cut straight down into deep water and with the shadow of the rock and the fringes of seaweed it was hard to see clearly. 

“I’ll wait until the fish comes back,” Jeongin said, lying down to lessen the glare on the water. “These rocks are accessible at high tide, right?” he asked.

“You can wade,” Minho offered. “Might get your shorts wet. This is boring though, let's go to the beach. We can come back to look for the fish later.”

“I want to look now,” Jeongin said firmly. His eyes had started to adjust and he could have sworn that dark shape near the bottom was a fin. Just a few more minutes and he was sure he'd see the fish move. Minho couldn’t keep being mysterious if he’d seen it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> are you as curious as jeongin yet? hmm i wonder whats in that water?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure but I should maybe trigger warning drowning for this chapter. I'd rather warn unnecessarily than have someone read something that can trigger them. Nobody drowns, nobody even comes close to drowning but it is mentioned as a possibility that might happen

Jeongin was growing impatient but he was still determined and Minho trying to stop him only fueled his need to find this fish more. If this seaweed would just move out of the way he could see the deep water clearly. The deep purple stuff didn't look to be attached to the rock so if he could just get a stick or something he could push it to one side. The wide flat tendrils of it just kept moving every time he thought he got a glimpse of a fin and it was infuriating. Eventually he worked up the courage to reach out a hand and use one finger to push the slimy stuff away. He hoped it would move easily because there was no way he was touching it properly.

He’d barely touched the seaweed when suddenly it was dragged underwater so fast it left bubbles in its wake. Jeongin had been leaning over the rock, just at the tip of his balance to reach it and the surprise made him tense and topple over into the water.

“Innie!” Minho yelled as Jeongin screamed and reached out with lightning reflexes to grab Jeongin as he fell.

They both ended up in the water.

Jeongin spluttered to the surface but Minho sank like a stone. Jeongin tried to grab his arm but he couldn’t hold them both up and the rock was too steep to get a grip on. The purple seaweed rose to the surface again in the chaos and then it _spoke._

 _“_ Can you swim?” the boy with purple seaweed hair asked tensely. His chin was just barely above the water as he fought to keep Minho from swallowing the sea. “I can’t hold both of you.” Despite those words he had one hand under Jeongin’s armpit to help stop him being battered against the rock by the waves.

“Yeah,” Jeongin said quickly and had to close his mouth again as another wave hit. This close to the rocks there wasn’t space to tread water properly and the swell was amplified.

“Fuck,” the boy said. He hauled Minho’s arm onto his shoulder and rose slightly higher as he kicked furiously, the exertion showing in his face. He must be a really strong swimmer to be able to keep them all above the water but even an olympian couldn’t keep that up forever. “Fuck, shit, fuck. You can’t get back up from here, can you? Minho? For fuck’s sake, at least use your stupid legs.”

The boy knew Minho then. A voice in the back of Jeongin’s head wondered where the boy had come from and why his hair looked exactly like the purple seaweed he’d been staring at for the last five minutes but the rest of Jeongin’s brain was in full panic. There was nowhere on the rock to grab onto and seaweed hid any footholds that might be able to get him on dry land. He’d thought he was a pretty strong swimmer but the waves were making it hard enough just to float, let alone swim for the shore.

“I can’t swim!” Minho exclaimed, clinging tightly to the boy’s neck. “It’s your fault I’m out here!”

“No it fucking isn’t!” The boy replied, pulling Jeongin backwards with them towards the open water. Jeongin couldn’t kick well with his shoes dragging him down but he did his best to use his body and arms to scull like he’d been taught in swimming lessons. It was significantly harder in the undulating ocean.

“Hey!” Seungmin called from the sand, cupping his hands around his mouth. He was really far away but Jeongin could still hear his panic. He’d waded as far as he could in his shorts. “Are you ok?!”

“I’ve got them!” the boy replied. It calmed Seungmin’s panic but Seungmin couldn’t see the fear in the boy’s eyes.

“I can swim on my own,” Jeongin said. He’d rather the boy focused on Minho, who couldn’t swim at all.

“You can’t,” the boy replied. “Not with all that stuff dragging you down.” He gave Jeongin a boost up at the perfect time to keep his head above a wave and then kicked harder to do the same with Minho. “I can get you back to the rocks but you’ll get hurt trying to get out there." He lifted them all over a wave again and this time his own mouth didn’t stay above the water. He was tiring. “I’ll just need to get you to standing depth.”

“You can’t keep us all afloat,” Jeongin replied. And it probably wasn’t doing the boy any good to have Minho crushing his windpipe.

“I can,” the boy said determinedly. “My hyung should be here in a minute and then it will be fine.”

Maybe Minho had cut off oxygen to the boy’s brain because there was no way a rescuer could reach them in the next few minutes unless that rescuer was Changbin. Changbin was about as good a swimmer as Jeongin was in the right attire but neither of them had the endurance to pull another person through the waves. If Changbin came out to help them the seaweed-hair boy would just have extra work.

“Nobody else lives around here,” Jeongin said, not wanting the boy to get delusional. He’d rather take his chances on the rocks than sink out here.

“Yes, they do,” the boy said. “Minho, hold your breath,” he instructed and ducked them both under the water for a second before resurfacing. “He’s coming,” the boy announced. “It’s going to be fine.”

Minho spluttered as he resurfaced and the boy had to let go of Jeongin for a second to focus on Minho. Jeongin kicked as best he could but it just tired him out and he had to hold his breath longer than he would have liked as the next wave rose around him. And then suddenly he was being lifted to the surface, strong arms around his waist.

Another boy had appeared. He grinned warmly at Jeongin and pushed a mass of light green bubbles back from his eyes. Jeongin was going insane. Maybe he was already drowning and imagining the seaweed was people saving him.

“Hey,” the new boy said. “You’re alright now. I can take you to the shore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so who's who hmm?
> 
> I'll post the two types of seaweed on my twitter @Lossit_bay_skz because I'm too dumb to work out how to post it in the notes here


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey,” the new boy said. “You’re alright now. I can take you to the shore.”

The first seaweed boy had already moved away with Minho towards Seungmin screaming on the sand and Changbin was racing back around from the rocks where he had gone to help them that way.

“Yes please,” Jeongin replied. He would very much like not to drown. He could work out where his brain had invented seaweed boys from later. 

“Awesome,” the boy said. “If you hold onto my fin I can get you there faster.”

“Your what?” Jeongin asked. Oh yeah, he was definitely drowning. His brain was mixing up seaweed, people, _and_ fish now. 

“Fin,” the boy repeated. “My dorsal fin.” He twisted one shoulder forward so Jeongin could see his back sure enough there was a fin sticking up from his spine, the same colour and texture as the rest of his skin. Ok then. The boy helped him to swim around to his back and Jeongin reluctantly wrapped his hand over the top of the fin. It was surprisingly solid. “You good?” the boy asked, glancing over his shoulder at him. This close Jeongin could see that the seaweed wasn’t just draped over his head. It actually seemed to be growing from his head like real hair. Jeongin couldn’t work out what was more freaky and then the boy kicked forward toward the beach and instead of legs rising to meet Jeongin’s it was the large smooth mass of a tail that pushed them forward in steady strong beats.

They were in the shallow water in seconds where Changbin and Seungmin had waded out to meet Minho and the first boy. The first boy had fled back to deeper water as soon as Minho was safe but from the looks on Jeongin's friends’ faces he too hadn’t had the anatomy they had been expecting. The boy helping Jeongin slowed to a glide as they approached and Jeongin slid off his back, never happier to have solid ground under his feet.

“Thanks,” he said, at a loss for what else to say.

“No problem.” The boy grinned again, dimples showing as the corners of his smile. He seemed unbothered by the stares he was getting. “I presume it was Jisung’s fault you fell in with your shoes on so it was the least I could do.”

“Jisung?” Jeongin asked. The boy gestured out to where his friend was watching them at a distance, his eyes just above the surface. Had Jeongin not known what to look for he would have mistaken him for floating seaweed. That was probably the point. 

“He’s shy,” the boy explained before turning and yelling across the water. “Sung, get your fin over here! They’ve seen you already. Come and be polite!”

“Don’t want to!” Jisung called back, only lifting his mouth above the water just long enough to say that.

“You’ll see him again anyway,” the boy explained, turning to them to speak at a normal volume. “He doesn’t leave this cove.” He was sculling with his hands downwards to keep his head above the water while his tail floated behind him, the fin at end pressing down into the sand. It was too shallow here for him to swim upright as he had when he came to help Jeongin but he didn't seem to mind having to crane his neck to look up at them.

“Are you a mermaid?” Changbin burst out and then went red. “I mean, not to be rude. But like, that’s not fake, is it?” He pointed hesitantly to the boy’s tail, clearly visible in the shallow water. The tail was the same pale brownish pink as the rest of his skin and blended perfectly into his torso, not at all how Jeongin had imagined a mermaid to be. He expected scales like a fish, stopping when a human would have hips and then the upper body of a human. This boy more closely resembled a dolphin or a shark. His skin had been smooth and his tailfin was horizonal so probably a dolphin then, and unlike a mythical mermaid there was no join in his middle that made him look like two creatures stuck together. His back was exactly like his tail up until his shoulders at which point the smooth shape was disrupted slightly by his shoulder blades which were moving as he kept himself afloat. Even if Jeongin wanted it to be a hoax there was no way for a body moving like that to be fabricated.

“Ah, no. It's real,” the boy replied to Changbin and spun over to lift his tail up and slap it down on the water sending a perfect arc of water away from him. “And the dorsal fin, and the hair.” He tugged at his bubble seaweed which held firm on his head. “I’m Mer, like you are Human, but I wouldn’t say I’m a maid. Not much cleaning to be done in the ocean.”

“Apart from the plastic pollution, oil pollution and everything else we dump in there,” Minho pointed out.

The boy shrugged. “Yeah, but how am I gonna fix that? Even if I collect all the plastic, where am I going to put it? We’ve not got another ocean to put it in.”

“Good point,” Minho allowed. “Is it bad?” Minho was ever the environmentalist, making sure their waste was always sorted correctly so as much as possible of it could be recycled. Still, it was a bit much to have that as your first topic of conservation with a mermaid. Jeongin, personally, was more caught up on the _tail._

"It's getting worse," the boy said, casually spinning like a corkscrew. "I hear Cold-landward of here has a lot of rubbish all in one place but this bit is ok."

"I'm sorry, where did you say?" Seungmin butt in.

"Cold-landward ," the boy repeated. "To colder water, following the land. Instead of to warmer water by the land- that goes to _Australia_." He stopped his corkscrewing to say this last fact with pride, even using the English name for it.

"You know about _Australia_ but you don't know the cardinal directions?" Seungmin said judgementally. Jeongin personally thought using 'hotter or colder' to navigate was a lot more valid than North and South. He couldn't point out North right now and it must be harder without GPS.

"I'm from _Australia!"_ The boy grinned again. "Well, the water around _Australia."_ It looked like he was going to continue but a series of sharp whistles interrupted him. He spun around to look out to where Jisung was still glaring at them. As Jeongin watched two more heads popped out of the water on either side of him. At least, Jeongin thought they were heads. They had seaweed hair again and it was so hard to tell when it fell over their eyes.

"The whole pod is here!" The boy next to them exclaimed and then whistled to the others as he beckoned them closer. The two new boys came eagerly but Jisung still hung back, only drifting a little closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Chan is talking about cold landward he's talking about the great Pacific garbage patch which according to Google is somewhere of the coast of Japan. 
> 
> If you have any questions about the description of a 'mermaid' ask in the comments and I'll either answer or let you know that info is still to come


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I would love to go wild with the mer types (giant deep sea mer yeeess) i really dont have the time for this to turn into an au as massive as BCC so we're going to stick to the dolphin like mer

"Hi," one of the new boys said as he popped above the surface right next to them. His voice was surprisingly deep, especially in contrast to his soft facial features. His hair was a different seaweed yet again, bright green and fluffy looking like fresh grass shoots. He also had pale spots smattered across his skin, on his cheeks and across his shoulders . Mermaids got freckles too then, who knew.

"Hi," Jeongin replied hesitantly. He felt he should crouch down to speak to them since the water level meant their heads only came to hip height but maybe that was rude.

"This is Felix," Jeongin's rescuer introduced. "And this is Hyunjin." The other boy was staring rather intently at Seungmin. Jeongin kind of wanted to move to stand between them so he would stop. "Oh! And I'm Chan!"

"You're cute," Hyunjin told Seungmin boldly. "Come in the water." Hyunjin looked bigger, or at least longer, than Chan and Felix and his green hair was darker than the other too, floating in long wrinkled sheets around his shoulders. His tail was drifting in the water by Jeongin’s knees and, though it looked almost exactly like Chan’s, something about the way it was poised seemed dangerous.

Jeongin reached out and grabbed Seungmin's hand. If mermaids were real then maybe sirens were real too and Jeongin was not about to lose his friend to one.

"Hyunjin!" Chan scolded, pulling the boy back by his tail. "Humans don't like the water."

"They're almost in the water now," Hyunjin grumbled as he was dragged backwards. When Chan let him go he braced off the boy’s shoulder to toss his head back and push his hair away from his face. Jeongin watched in fascination. He did it almost exactly like a shampoo commercial but Hyunjin couldn’t have ever seen one. Hyunjin finished combing his hair into place and looked back down, tilting his head to stare straight at Seungmin. “Do you want to swim, Cutie?” Hyunjin asked. Jeongin tightened his grip on Seungmin’s hand.

“I, uh,” Seungmin seemed a little distracted but Jeongin didn’t blame him- the mer boys had strange eyes. It wasn’t immediately noticeable but they were rounder and the pupil filled most of their eyes, making it feel like they were looking right into your soul. With Hyunjin staring so intently it wasn’t a surprise Seungmin had lost his sharp tongue. “I shouldn’t go in deep water,” Seungmin said eventually. “I’m not a strong swimmer.”

“Of course not, with those funny sticks,” Hyunjin nodded to their legs below the water. “You could hold on to me.”

“I don’t know you,” Seungmin said, hostility creeping into his voice. It would be difficult for them to run back to the shore from here with the tide pulling at their waists and Hyunjin wasn’t even a tail beat away. If he wanted to pull Seungmin out he could, unless his friends stopped him. 

“What about you?” Hyunjin asked, turning to Jeongin, completely unphased by Seungmin’s rejection.

“Hyunjin!” Chan scolded again, slapping his friend’s flank. “Let them stay on the land.”

Hyunjin’s predatory stance melted in an instant and he flipped over onto his back, dramatically flinging his arm out to slap the water. He then tipped his head back into the water to… scream? Felix grinned and reached out a hand to tickle his friend. 

“Ignore him,” Chan said. “He doesn’t like the land.”

Felix must have hit a sensitive spot because Hyunjin’s head shot back out of the water as he doubled over. As Jeongin had expected, he was screaming. Well, wailing. He shut up quickly and turned back to them looking sheepish, ducking as low in the water as he could.

“I can do that too,” Jeongin informed him, wanting to add to Hyunjin’s embarrassment. He took a deep breath and let out his highest pitched scream. His friends called it his dolphin scream but the mer boys would probably be the judge if that was accurate or not.

 _“Wow,”_ Chan said, sinking in the water slightly as he forgot to keep sculling. “That was... explicit.”

“Really?” Jeongin asked excitedly. That was the best feedback he could ever have gotten. “What did I say?”

“I want him,” Hyunjin told Chan determinedly.

“You said strong word,” Felix explained quietly in his deep voice as Hyunjin and Chan started bickering. “I don’t know Korean word that strong. I asking Sungie.” And with that he ducked his mouth under the water and Jeongin watched his lips move. It didn’t look like he was screaming but Jeongin could guess the kinds of sounds he was making from Chan and Hyunjin’s argument that had converted to clicks and whistles. In the middle of the cove Jisung’s seaweed hair disappeared under the water. “He coming,” Felix informed them. 

Now that Jeongin knew to look he could see the wave Jisung was creating as he swam forward just under the surface. He surfaced just behind Felix and clasped onto his back, hooking his chin over Felix’s shoulder. 

“Hi again,” Minho greeted him warmly.

“Get out of my cove,” Jisung retorted but there was no bite to it. He turned to the rest of their group. “Who screamed?”

Jeongin’s hesitantly raised his hand, the one not currently held by Seungmin.

“That was impressive,” Jisung praised him. “Essentially, you just called every Mer in a mile radius a motherfucker.”

“Whoops,” Jeongin whispered and Changbin cackled, slapping the water with glee.

“It’s fine,” Jisung grinned. “I don’t think anybody else was listening. What’s your name, Explicit?”

“Um, I’m Jeongin,” Jeongin said, hoping that wasn’t his new nickname. Even if the mer boys didn’t use it his flatmates would be teasing him forever about it now. “This is Seungmin-hyung and Changbin-hyung. I think you know Minho-hyung.”

“Yeah, he threw a rock at me.” Jisung glared at Minho and Minho stuck his tongue out in retaliation. 

“I threw a rock _in_ _the ocean,”_ Minho argued. “You being in the ocean has nothing to do with me.”

“I was here first!” Jisung exclaimed. 

“I’ve been coming here since I was a baby!” Minho retorted. “My family owns this cove!”

“Your family owns the _land,”_ Jisung shot back. He pushed down on Felix’s shoulders to raise himself higher. “I’m in the sea. Free real estate!”

“Do you.. watch vines?” Changbin cut in before they could start squaring up.

“What’s a vines?” Felix asked, shrugging Jisung off.

“It’s a vid-” Changbin cut himself off and stared at Seungmin with vacant eyes. “They don’t have the internet,” he said to nobody in particular.

“Do you have a phone!” Felix asked excitedly. He must have some knowledge to have connected ‘internet’ to ‘phone’. “I _love_ the internet!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it has been two months since i updated this so whoops sorry about that. im still not very happy with this chapter but meh

Icy fear spread in Jeongin’s chest. _His phone._ He patted the pockets of his shorts but they were empty, moving freely in the waves. It must have fallen out when he fell in and was probably buried in the sand under the rocks now. His mum was going to kill him. 

Seungmin tugging on his hand brought him back to the present. “It’s in my backpack,” he told Jeongin quietly with a gentle smile. “I took it from you at the house remember?” Relief flooded Jeongin’s veins. He had tripped going out the door and nearly smashed his screen and Seungmin had taken the device from him. Of course. 

“You have a phone?” Felix repeated hopefully.

“Yeah, we all have one,” Changbin told him. “They’re on the beach because water breaks them.”

“I have to stay in water,” Felix said sadly. “The other phones work underwater.”

“Other-?” Changbin frowned. “I can try to order a case?” He offered. 

“Is that like a phone? Thank you!!” Felix said before Changbin could explain. 

“Um, yeah sure.” Changbin answered. “Two days,” he said, holding up two fingers. He’d picked up that Felix’s Korean was worse as well then. “Then I can show you my phone in the water.”

“Thank you!!” Felix said again. “Do you want a shell?”

“A.. shell?” Changbin asked in confusion.

“As a present,” Chan explained. He’d manhandled (merhandled?) Hyunjin behind him but Hyunjin was still staring. “He has a collection.”

“...sure,” Changbin answered and the word was barely out of his mouth and Felix had pushed himself backward and sped out of the cove at high speed. Hyunjin immediately took advantage of the space, coming around behind Jisung to fill the gap. Jisung did the opposite, panicking and pulling back to half-hide behind Chan. They moved so smoothly the change in formation happened between one wave and the next. Hyunjin was closer again and Jeongin took another small step towards the shore.

“Where’s he going?” Minho asked of Felix.

“None of your business,” Jisung retorted.

“To his collection,” Chan answered. “You’ll probably all get something.”

Sure enough, minutes later an unusually large wave started building and then Felix burst from the surface, clearing the water completely before diving down again in a perfectly streamlined arc. The wave died again as he dived deeper and then suddenly he was next to them.

“Pick one!” Felix told Changbin, holding his cupped hands up. There were a variety of shells, big and small and all sorts of pretty colours. Jeongin couldn’t deny that he was jealous as Changbin reached out and took a scalloped pink one. Changbin turned it over and ran his finger along the edge, admiring it.

“Thank you, Felix,” Changbin said sincerely. “I’ll treasure it.”

“Treasure?” Felix asked, tilting his head.

“Keep it forever,” Changbin explained and Felix was so shocked by that that he tripped and fell forward. Or whatever the equivalent of tripping was when you had a tail. Chan lunged forward and grabbed him under the arm and pulled him up as Felix prioritised holding his shells safe.

“Sorry,” Chan said, readjusting Jisung, who still hadn’t let go of his back. “It’s difficult to stay at this depth. Do you think we could continue this conversation by the rocks? We can kick properly there.”

“We should actually probably go and get changed,” Seungmin said. Jeongin hadn’t noticed but Seungmin was shivering. He hadn’t noticed that _he_ was shivering. Hyunjin reached out and touched Jeongin’s arm and frowned as Jeongin pulled back.

“You are unwell?” he asked. “To be shaking.”

“It’s because I’m cold,” Jeongin explained. “The water is cold.”

“No it’s not,” Hyunjin countered. “Wow, your bodies are really useless.”

“Hyunjin!” Chan scolded him. “Yes, you should go and put on dry clothes. And have warm food. We’ll swim out to the mouth of the cove for a bit and you can call us back in when you come back. The tide is receding so you should get to the rocks ok.”

“Wait!” Felix called out as Minho started to walk to shallow water. “You need a shell,” he said quietly, holding out his hands. However, without his hands or his tail sculling, the motion sent him sinking. Chan was struggling himself so Changbin stepped forward and wrapped a strong arm under Felix’s chest. “Thank you!” Felix said, beaming. “You are so nice!”

Changbin’s ears went red. “I try,” he mumbled. And then to Minho, “Pick a goddamn shell.”

Minho took his time picking a shell and then Seungmin took even longer, despite his shivering. Jeongin reached around him and placed a perfectly rounded iridescent blue on in his friend’s hand. 

“There. Take that.” It looked delicate but he knew Seungmin would look after it carefully. For himself he took a small white rock, or perhaps it was a pearl. It was pretty but also wouldn’t crumble if he left it in his pocket and sat on it.

“Thanks, Felix,” Seungmin mumbled through chittering lips and Minho started hauling him towards shore. 

“We’ll see you guys later,” Minho called over his shoulder. “Bin, put the boy down for god’s sake.”

“Oh!” Changbin said, jumping in surprise and nearly dropping Felix. “Do I just…” he trailed off and squatted down in the water to a height Felix was mostly submerged at but didn’t let go.

“This is fine!” Felix said cheerfully. “I’ll sink but I can hold my breath.”

“Ok..Um,” Changbin fumbled.

“Thank you for the shells, Felix,” Jeongin said to give his Hyung more time to pull himself together. 

Felix grinned happily. “You’re welcome!”

“Um… bye?” Changbin said awkwardly and carefully let go of the mer boy. As Felix had predicted, he sank, but he seemed unbothered by this and twisted around under the water to shoot back off again to where he’d collected his shells from.

Hyunjin had sneaked up on Jeongin while he was distracted and Jeongin only noticed when there was a warm arm around his waist. Hyunjin used Jeongin as leverage to pull himself more out of the water. “You’re coming back once you aren’t shaking, right?” he asked. 

Jeongin couldn’t pull away. Like, physically, he could not pull away. Hyunjin was heavy. “Are you going to try and drown me?” he asked. It was a valid question- for now, with the sand sliding out from under his feet, and for later.

Hyunjin tilted his head with a frown. “Why would I want to drown you?” Jeongin wasn’t sure but he still didn’t trust Hyunjin’s intentions with his strange eyes and seaweed rope hair. He looked a little like something that would lure people to the depths to eat them.

“Hyunjin, let him go,” Chan chastised again. “He’ll get ill if he doesn’t get warm soon.”

“I could hug him to warm him up?” Hyunjin suggested, pulling his chest closer to Jeongin’s hip. He _was_ warm.

“Let. Him. Go.” Chan demanded and Hyunjin did so, sulkily sinking under the water to mope on the seafloor. Changbin held out his hand to Jeongin and together they headed for the beach where Minho and Seungmin were already gathering all their things. “See you later, guys!” Chan said, flipping over and reaching down to drag Hyunjin backward by his tail out to deeper water. “It was nice to meet you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I quite often run polls on my twitter for which fic i work on next so if you would like to request this fic over my others in order to get better updates- you can follow me @Lossit_bay_skz


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its been a while. sorry about that, i have a lot of fics on the go at once and this one kept losing the polls. It won this time though!!

“We should buy some bottled water,” Seungmin said when he’d caught his breath at the top of the cliff. Walking uphill in wet clothes while shivering was hard work.

“Bottled- We just met fucking _merpeople_ ,” Jeongin exclaimed, “and the first thing you say is ‘we should buy some bottled water’. Fuck, Seungmin-hyung, _priorities.”_

“I do have my priorities straight!” Seungmin protested. Behind them Changbin was paused at the top of the cliff to wave down to the merboys. “Clearly this is a shared hallucination. The most obvious causes are food or water contamination. Our food came from the supermarket so the water supply is the prime suspect. This house is isolated and old so it would be heavy metals in the pipes or a water-borne dis-”

“God, I hope you aren’t this boring when you’re really high,” Minho interrupted Seungmin’s spiralling. “The pipes are fine. Mer people are real. Suck it up, Minnie.” He strode towards the house in front of them, Seungmin’s bag in one hand, his shoes in the other.

“We should still order bottled water,” Seungmin told Jeongin seriously. “We have to eliminate all the possibilities until only the truth remains.”

“I’m going to let Hyunjin drag you underwater,” Jeongin informed him and followed Minho. He did kind of like that Seungmin was taking the logical approach but he’d held Chan’s fin, felt the power of his tail, had Hyunjin pulling at his waist- undeniably warm. It wasn’t just a trick of his eyes. Three of his senses were in agreement- mer people were real and they were swimming just off-shore.

“Hypothermia!” Seungmin called behind him.

“Mer people are real!” Jeongin yelled back without turning around. “And they have seaweed for hair!

***

It took Jeongin a long time to warm up in the shower. First the water made no noticeable difference to how he felt and then slowly it felt like needles all over his skin and _hot_. He stepped out of the spray and tried to warm one part of him at a time until the needles faded and the heat was soothing again. Then he stayed under the showerhead for a few minutes longer until he really felt warm and not just surface-heated. Seungmin banging on the door to the bathroom brought him out of bliss.

“Innie, come on! I’m cold too!”

Jeongin did rush slightly to get dressed at that but Seungmin hadn’t been fully submerged so he could survive a little longer. His friend pushed past him the second he opened the door, discarding a blanket cape as he did so. The door knocked into Jeongin’s back as it shut again and he picked up the cloak. Pre-warmed. Nice.

Minho shoved a cup ramen at him as he entered the kitchen and Jeongin dutifully ate it. The mer boys were still on his mind and he shuffled over to Seungmin’s bag to retrieve his phone and naver image search ‘seaweed’. He immediately got a page full of packaging and artfully arranged meals and had to refine his search a couple more times before he found what he was looking for.

“Chan,” he said to Changbin, holding up his phone to show him the bright green bubbles.

“Mmmhmm,” Changbin agreed around a mouthful of ramen. Minho had fed him too before serving himself. “E-ag eee oo!”

“Uh huh,” Jeongin said sarcastically and went back to his scrolling while he waited for Changbin to swallow and become intelligble again.

Minho came to sit at his other side and peered at Jeongin’s screen. “Jisung is dulls,” he said. “I think.”

“Jisung is dull?” Jeongin echoed. He’d got that Jisung and Minho perhaps on the friendliest terms but if there was one thing Jisung wasn’t it was _dull._ He had a fucking tail.

“Dullsss,” Minho said again. “D.U.L.S.E. It’s a type of algae. Edible.” Jeongin typed it in once he found his roman keyboard and sure enough, seaweed very similar to Jisung’s hair showed up. “He won’t let me take some to cook,” Minho continued. “Very rude.” Jeongin decided it was best not to point out that Minho had perhaps been the rude one in that conversation.

“Hyung, does this place have a carbon monoxide detector?” Seungmin asked, coming out of the bathroom with his hair curling at the ends and flushed cheeks.

“Minnie,” Changbin said softly, holding out a hand for Seungmin. He’d put his ramen down on the table. Seungmin walked towards him almost without thinking and Changbin pulled him down into his lap. “They were real. Since when have the four of us ever agreed on anything? You really think we all hallucinated the exact same thing? We weren’t anywhere near the house and nothing else has been weird.”

“Jeongin got out the bathroom when I told him to,” Seungmin mumbled.

“Sorry for caring about your health,” Jeongin grumbled. Minho reached around him to feed Seungmin ramen from his chopsticks. Seungmin pulled a face at the spice level but it shut him up so Changbin kept going.

“I remember Jisung had hair that looked like this,” Changbin said, pointing to Jeongin’s phone. “Do you remember that? ”

“That’s a leading question,” Seungmin said around his ramen. “You’re planting information in my head.”

“We’re just gonna have to take you back until you admit they’re real,” Minho said. “I bet Hyunjin would let you feel him up if it was mutual.”

“I’m not going in the ocean when I’m hallucinating,” Seungmin said. “That’s a sure-fire way to die.” Minho shut him up with more ramen.

“All in favour of exchanging Seungmin for the little chirpy one?”

“Felix,” Changbin said. “His name was Felix and I don’t think he can come out of the water.”

“I’ll lure him with my iphone,” Minho said, leaning back against the arm of the couch and putting his feet up in Jeongin’s lap. “He might grow legs- we don’t know.”


	9. Chapter 9

Jeongin proudly summoned the merboys via insult when they got back to the beach. Hyunjin was at the rocks frighteningly quickly and propelled himself high out of the water to brace off his arms and watch them walking closer.

“That was just a wave,” Seungmin muttered to himself. Minho hit his arm and dragged him over with them.

“That is a fucking merboy and you’re going to believe it.”

Felix and Chan popped up next to Hyunjin and Chan lay across a lower rock to wave enthusiastically at them. “Hi!”

“More waves?” Jeongin asked Seungmin sarcastically as he waved back. This time he was careful to avoid the quicksand and climb more carefully onto the rocks. Hyunjin leaned towards Jeongin while he was distracted trying to find a solid foothold and Jeongin didn’t manage to scramble away fast enough to avoid his lips on his skin.

“You’re warm now,” Hyunjin noted with a dangerous smile. He hadn’t needed to try and _eat_ Jeongin to find that out.

Jeongin pulled back his hand. “And dry. Thank you very much.”

Hyunjin tipped his head to one side. “Why are you thanking me? I didn’t make you dry. I hate dryness.”

“It was- You know what, forget it,” Jeongin said with a sigh. “If you hate being dry then why are you up here?” Hyunjin’s tail was so long that half of it was still in the water but he’d pulled most of himself up onto the rocks and the water was evaporating on his skin. He wasn’t thin- none of the merboys were- but his torso had that kind of solid look to it that suggested it was all muscle and it flowed smoothly into his tail which Jeongin _knew_ was solid muscle from the way Hyunjin had managed to propel himself several metres out of the water.

You’re interesting,” Hyunjin said simply. “And you’re not in the ocean.” He smiled that predator smile and leaned in again. “Of course, if you’d like to come in the water with me I’d be more than happy to keep you afloat.”

 _Sure. ‘Afloat’ was definitely what would happen._ “No thanks,” Jeongin said. “I’ll stay up here on this nice warm comfy rock.” _Out of your territory._

“There’s nothing comfy about it,” Hyunjin argued. “I can’t even lift my arms or I’ll fall back in.” He demonstrated by lying flat against the rock, letting go with his hands and letting himself slide a few centimetres backwards before pressing up onto his arms again and shuffling forward like a sea lion. He tossed his head to get his seaweed hair out of his face. “Land is the worst.”

Jeongin deliberated for a whole second… and then gave Hyunjin a shove.

“Jeongin!” Changbin exclaimed from below him as Hyunjin made a huge splash as he fell, showering everyone in water.

“He said he didn’t like land!” Jeongin protested. “I was helping him.”

“What happ-” Chan started to say but he was cut off by Hyunjin breaching out of the water again, arms outstretched. _Yep,_ Jeongin thought as he noted the gleam in Hyunjin’s eyes. _That was a mistake._ Hyunjin’s hands clamped down on Jeongin’s shoulders instead of the rock this time and he hauled Jeongin head-first into the water. Jeongin remembered to hold his breath before he went under and prayed that Hyunjin would let him back to the surface again before he ran out of oxygen. The water was all churned up and full of bubbles and he couldn’t see anything even if he tried so he closed his eyes and held his arms over his face. This part of the bay had underwater rocks hidden in dark seaweed and he had no idea if Hyunjin was dragging him towards them or not. He hoped not. Surely Hyunjin wouldn’t actually kill him.

Eventually, just as Jeongin’s chest was starting to burn, Hyunjin pulled him to the surface. “Breathe,” he demanded.

“What?” Jeongin said, gasping for air. They weren't far from the rocks, just in the middle of the bay. It felt like he’d been underwater for longer.

“Urgh, you’re such a weird shape,” Hyunjin complained, adjusting his grip on Jeongin. “How the fuck are you supposed to stay upright.” He’d tried to hold Jeongin up by his thigh and nearly forced his head under water.

“Let go!” Jeongin complained, slapping Hyunjin’s hands away. “Get off me!”

“But you can’t swim!” Hyunjin retorted, trying to avoid Jeongin’s hits and still hold him up at the same time.

Jeongin splashed him in the face. “Yes I can! I wouldn’t _have to_ if you hadn’t pulled me in!”

“You still don’t have to!” Hyunjin said. Jeongin’s splash had had zero effect. He really should have expected that, what with Hyunjin being a marine person and all. Hyunjin lunged forward and took Jeongin by his right arm and left left, heaving him into the air above his head. “Haha!” Hyunjin crowed. “I am in the water and you are in the air! We both win!”

“Put me the fuck down!” Jeongin screamed but Hyunjin just kicked harder to lift him higher and spun them round in circles. Jeongin was going to spew on his head if he wasn’t careful.

“Calm down, Explicit,” Jisung said, popping up beside Hyunjin and looking up at him with a grin. “You’re completely safe.”

“I’ve been fucking _kidnapped_ by a _mermaid!”_ Jeongin yelled down at him. “I have every right to be screaming!”

Minho’s light bubbling laugh echoed across the water from the rocks at that. It was _so_ nice to hear that his friends cared about him. Well, Seungmin probably would care but he’d just take this as further evidence that this whole day was a hallucination so Jeongin wasn’t holding out for help from him. 

Hyunjin dropped him down to catch him in his arms. “I’m not a mermaid,” he said, frowning sternly at Jeongin. “I’m a mer _boy_.” 

Jeongin had accidently grabbed Hyunjin’s seaweed hair as he fell and gingerly untangled his hand from it, not looking away from Hyunjin’s big strange eyes. It was so difficult to tell what he was thinking. He didn’t _look_ angry- just irritated- but Jeongin’s life was very much in Hyunjin’s hands so it was perhaps safer to not to argue like he would with his flatmates. “Sorry,” Jeongin said meekly. “‘Merboy’ is kind of a new concept to me.”

Hyunjin ignored his apology and pulled one of Jeongin’s legs up for inspection as he cradled him in his other arm. Jeongin's hamstring burned with the stretch. “Can you hold onto things with your leg-fingers?” Hyunjin asked, prodding Jeongin’s toes. “They look very stumpy.”

Jeongin curled his toes away from the touch. “No. They’re not fingers- they’re toes. They’re just for walking.”

“Walking looks really difficult,” Jisung said, also peering at Jeongin’s feet. These merboys were a bunch of weirdos. “How do you not fall over?”

“Practice?” Jeongin said. He aimed a kick at Jisung and the merboy ducked under the water, his purple hair going under last, just like it had when they'd first met and Jeongin had fallen in. Jisung was very twitchy. If only Hyunjin was the same. "Can I go back to land again?" Jeongin asked Hyunjin. 

"Are you cold?" Hyunjin asked. He dropped Jeongin's leg and brought him close to his chest. "You don't feel cold."

Jeongin reluctantly clung to Hyunjin's shoulders. It was that or have his face smushed into Hyunjin's neck. He'd been right- Hyunjin was mostly muscle. "I'm not cold, not yet. I just don't want to be in the water. And I'll get cold. Then I'll have to go home again."

Hyunjin sighed dramatically as if Jeongin was causing him some massive inconvenience. "Fine. I'll take your stupid skinny body back to land. It must suck to be so useless."

"I'd like to see you try and walk along the beach," Jeongin retorted as Hyunjin swam them back to the rocks. "Then we'll see who has the useless body."


End file.
